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Travels with Jack and Sam

November 2017 - January 2018
A 57-day adventure by Travels with Dogs Read more
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  • TravelerTravels with Jack and Sam
    Day 1

    Leaving Home

    November 26, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

    On Sunday, November 19, 2017, we set off from Tatro Road on our trip which may or may not last for two month. It was a blustery day which was scary for two people unused to the swayings of their Alto caravan. But with good spirits and an equal amount of trepidation we set off. I'll will post a departure video when I figure out how to do that.

    Our first camping spot was Bass River State Forest on the New Jersey Shore. ($25.00) We got there 15 minutes before closing (who knew campsites had closings?) so the clerk was not terribly interested in answering the unusual amount of questions we had. This was Renee’s first experience booking a camp site and she hadn’t inquired about hook-ups, the electric, water and sewage kind. Bass River had none of these BUT there was a communal source for potable water. We made our way to this pronto since we had about 45 minutes of light.

    We remembered the right side of the caravan to stick the water hose, got that all fitted up, and let her rip. Awesome! except as much water as went into the caravan came out of the bottom. Harry twisted every valve he could find but we eventually had to call Louise, our lifeline at Discount Rental in Montreal. She had assured us that we should call her (day or night!) whenever we got stumped. This was our third call in two days. We love Louise.
    Harry and Louise worked on the problem for 30 minutes (daylight fading) and finally Louise just said we should bring the Caravan to an RV repair place in the morning. Sad! but motivating, so we continued to study the owner’s manual, examined the illustrating photos with a magnifying glass, and finally found one little valve that still needed to be turned. Really awesome! We filled up and went to our little space in the Forest where we would spend the night. We were the only people in the Forest.    Read more

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    Day 1

    Assateague - Nat'l Seashore 11/20 & 21

    November 26, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 10 °C

    Despite the issues we had on our first night camping, I woke up feeling exhilarated and free. We explored Bass River State Park, and then headed one hour south to the Cape May Ferry which took us across the Delaware Bay. On the other side we took off down Highway 1 finding our way to the Assateague National Seashore where we camped for two nights ($15 a night). Our campsite was on the sand on the Bay Side, less wind, and again we did not have water or electricity hook-ups but our battery had recharged and we could fill our tank with water. We did have access to a cold shower building. That was exciting - complete shower done in four blast of icy cold water.

    The real problem with no electricity hook up is not being able to make coffee in the morning. Sad! Especially since we had new coffee from Eva to try. But we found a way around this set back - we stole electricity from the Ranger station to make coffee before the Station opened. That's what you can see Harry doing below. I had the strangest feeling that this is how bears must feel when they realize that people have bird feeders hanging outside - is that too obscure a reference?

    As you can see, the beaches are beautiful. You probably know that Assateague is famous because of the wild horse herds that roam the Island in both the Maryland and Virginia part. Assateague has a great Visitor Center where we saw a film about how the horses came to be living there as well as great exhibits about the local aqua culture. There are two herds at the National Sea Shore in Maryland and more in Virginia. The horses are left wild in Maryland which means no care is given to them. They are kept to a steady number - something less than 200 - by means of a vaccination given to the mares after they have had one foal. In Chincoteague foals are auctioned off which is the point of that annual event where the cowboys herd the horses across the channel.    Read more

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    Day 1

    Assateague to Charlottesville

    November 26, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 8 °C

    We left Assateague early Wednesday, November 22 - some of the pictures below are still from there. We took off in a rain storm with Harry doing a great job of getting us to Charlottesville - about six hours. Our campsite in C'ville is what probably most of us think of as an "rv campsite" but it turned out to be really good for us. This was the first time we had a hook up for electricity, water and our very own sewer dump and we had to back in the camper. That was the royal "we." All of these were camping firsts - hooking up those services, using the sewage dump, BACKING IN!!! We also unhitched from the camper for the first time since we planned on going into C'ville to eat and tour. Big milestones for us. So we rewarded ourselves with a meal out at a lovely restaurant in C'ville called C&O recommended by Gail and Ethan. Totally agree! One of the pictures below is of the restaurant and another one of those pictures is of my lovely fig and goat cheese salad. The next day was Thanksgiving and we had reservations in the late afternoon at Maya's. Before dinner we spent the afternoon walking around the University of Virginia which was inspiring - so beautiful and I love to think of my dear friends who attended here. Thus ended November 23rd.Read more

  • TravelerTravels with Jack and Sam
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    Day 4

    Charlottesville - Monticello

    November 29, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    Friday was our last day in Charlottesville and we dedicated it to visiting Monticello. I think everyone's a little fascinated with Jefferson these days in view of Hamilton and the most recent Jeffersonian biography -- but I was not prepared for the wash of emotion I felt as we started our 11:00 o'clock tour of Monticello. Jefferson began life with 3000 gorgeous acres and throughout his life he owned as many as 600 slaves. The tours given of Monticello are very aware of the slavery factor and there is no question of evading the ever present achievement and contribution of the enslaved population to the grandness of Monticello. And yet, Jefferson shines as a major American product of the enlightenment.

    His home has many unique objects - for example, over his bed there is a skylight, one of 13 throughout the residence, and the first in American architecture. he also built a storage space over his bed where he stored his out of season clothes, and put round holes into the walls for circulation. He had huge gardens which fed Monticello and where he experimented with various vegetables which made up a large component of planation diet. He loved beans and had a huge variety of them. For a reason not disclosed in the tour, he wanted to minimize slaves waiting on the family so he devised things like a wine elevator in the living room where wine could be delivered by means of a dumb waiter. Of course, some one had to be below to load the wine...He also hated wasted space so therefore had no fixed dining table. He used tables that could be pushed back into the quarters of his room.

    We also went on a slavery tour and that guide was quite militant about the unfathamable contradiction of a man who wrote "all men are created equal ..." but also owned hundreds of slaves and fathered four children with Sally Hemmings. He valued the worth of his female slaves who could produce more humans, and he separated families during his tenure at Monticello.

    He also died bankrupt. Monticello and its slaves had to be sold at his death with no respect given to intact families. Monticello has only had two private owners before it went into a protected status by a private foundation. All in all, it was a very memorable day.

    We are off in the morning to Roanoke Island, North Carolina - home of the Lost Colony of Roanoke.    Read more

  • TravelerTravels with Jack and Sam
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    Day 7

    Day 7 - off to Roanoke Island NC

    December 2, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 13 °C

    We left our Misty Mountain (Charlottesville) campgrounds on the Saturday following Monticello trip - heading to North Carolina. The end of the day brought us to The Refuge at Roanoke, a campground on Roanoke Island that sounds more romantic than it is BUT we had a full hook-up which by now you should understand means electric, water and our own personal sewage dump.

    This Roanoke Island is about halfway down the Cape Hatteras peninsula which we were eager to explore. It is also the place where there was The Lost Colony of Roanoke. There are two towns on the Island, Manteo and Wanchese which are both names of Algonquin indians who befriended the settlers. Manteo is the more developed of the two towns and where we got a totally amazing "breakfast in a bowl" at TL's Family Restaurant, that is, grits, a biscuit, bacon, sausage, cheddar cheese and two eggs for $7.00 (and yes, in a bowl). Not to be missed. Manteo is the town where there is also Festival Park which was a lovely park for the dogs, also pictured below) and Fort Raleigh Historical Park where we learned all about the Lost Colony.

    The Lost Colony turns out to be a lot less mysterious than I had thought. There were two excursions funded by England to the New World in about 1585 mainly for the purpose of bringing back New World wealth. The first group had with them one artist and one scientist which is great for the historical record because there are interesting paintings of the Algonquins, how they lived, the fauna, etc. This first group of settlers recorded how welcoming and generous the Algonquins were. But the relationship soured. There are accounts of how the Algonquins would give the settlers 60 otter pelts in return for one pot and there is a general feeling in the writing that the settlors were consistently getting the better deal. And then also, the Algonquin started getting deathly ill with Western diseases. At a certain point, the settlers decided to kill the chief of the Algonquin. This may have been because the Settlors wanted more of what the Algonquin had or it may have been because the Settlors heard that the Algonquin were intending to attack them. I read both versions.

    Fortunately for the Settlers, after they killed the chief, an expedition showed up that took the lot of them off Roanoke Island and returned them to England. Two Algonquins returned with them, Manteo and Wanchese. One or two years later another group of Settlers came, this time with women and children, and this is the group that became known as the Lost Colony. It is also the group that produced Virginia Dare as the first European child born in the New Country.

    Well, would you want to be a part of this second group after the first group killed the Algonquin's chief? No. things did not go well for them and they insisted that the governor of their group return to England to bring back more supplies because guess what - the Algonquins were not being very forthcoming. When the governor left he told them that if they had to leave to write the name of where they were going on a tree, and he also told them that if they were leaving in distress to use a certain word.

    Well, the governor got back to England but due to circumstances (all boats being used in war with Spain) he was never able to get back to Roanoke. But years later another ship stopped there and there was no sign of the settlement. Neither were there graves or signs of war. Carved into a tree was the word COA which was understood to mean Croatan which is now known as Cape Hatteras. Croatan was also the home town of either Manteo and Wanchese, or both, so it makes sense that if circumstances dictated the settlers needed to leave they would go there.

    No intact evidence was ever found of the Settlers down in Croatan. However, there were indians that had grey eyes and spoke of ancestors that would talk into a book. They were very proud of these ancestors. So it seems likely that the settlers went down to the end of the Outer Banks where they might have more support from the local indians (not sure what tribe) and that they eventually melded into the group. So interesting! but I guess I always thought that they disappeared as in maybe getting beamed up.

    There's another amazing restaurant on Roanoke Island called the Front Porch which has excellent coffee brewed on site and fabulous baked muffins and other baked goods. Unusually good.

    We left Roanoke the next morning and moseyed on down to Charleston.    Read more

  • TravelerTravels with Jack and Sam
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    Day 9

    Charleston via Myrtle Beach

    December 4, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    This entry will introduce some of the trauma that (not infrequently) goes into our days. We wanted an early start to Charleston so we set out to get on the road by 9:00. We got a little behind schedule because first Harry had a terrible time getting the car hitched back up and then we were talking to our camping neighbor, Ricky, before heading out. It's a darn good thing we spent time talking to Ricky because when we pulled out of the campground we became unhitched. Yup, the car and the trailer were no long operating as one. There are two safety chains that connect you so the camper was hanging on by the safety chains and making a seriously god awful noise. We quickly pulled over on the side of a very busy road and Ricky coming crashing through the bushes to help us! Harry and Ricky got us hitched back up.
    Big trauma.

    That day had a few more snafus like going 70 miles out of way courtesy of our gps through very god-forsaken parts of North Carolina, and traffic standstills on 17 South, but we did finally find our way to Myrtle Beach State Park where we had a lovely pull through spot which means we did not have to unhitch which means Harry was a happy camper that night.

    This State Park was just lovely - we had a nice big spot in the trees, clean showers ( I think I took pictures), and a 200 yard walk out to the beach. The dogs couldn't go off leash here but they were happy (see pictures below). The Park Ranger showed us to our spot because we got here late and I asked him - since it was dark - whether there was anything to look out for when we took the dogs for a walk. He r.plied - just snakes!

    We also visited an RV Sales and Repair place one block from the State Park and the lovely service manager got on the ground and examined our hitch because it was making a horrible grating sound and we were unsurprisingly a little nervous about the hitch. He just loosened a bolt and sent us on our way.

    Do you Ashfieldans remember Mr. Donut from Route 9 in Hadley? Well, that was one of Harry's favorite donuts spots - and oddly enough, that Mr. Donut is now located in Myrtle Beach. We got one dozen for us and one dozen for the RV people. Life is good.    Read more

  • TravelerTravels with Jack and Sam
    Day 9

    Charleston!

    December 4, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    Most of you know my sister and her husband Curt live in the Charleston area. They recently moved from Mt. Pleasant which is near the beach to an area called Summerville. But we drove Jack and Sam one hour to the beach on our free morning in Charleston because we could let them off leash and they hadn't been off leash in ten days. It was worth every minute of the drive - they were so happy and roamed so far away from us. This was Sam's first foray into the water and it turns out she loves it.

    We said goodbye to Rita and Curt after a lovely restful two day visit. Everything in their house seemed so big and beautiful after a week in the camper. I mean, their house is beautiful and restful but we were taken aback by how it felt to be "on land." Thank you guys for a great visit and thank you to Rosie for allowing herself to be displaced for two day so Jack and Sam could be in the house with us! Now that's southern hospitality.

    We set off to Atlanta on Thursday, November 30th, but not before having another huge issue with the hitch. This time our savior was Hans, a maintenance man at my sister's development who had 30 years of RVing experience. He was great and left what he was doing to go work with Harry and show him some things that we hope will solve future hitch problems. One thing that has been amazing to us is how many lovely people we've met, and how even though we sometimes have tough issues, we've been able to find solutions - usually with help.

    Our overnight in Atlanta with my cousins Diane and Mike was another great stop - Mike has been retired for two years and has been diligently pursuing his passion for cooking. He's a much finer cook than either Harry or me. He has been volunteering at restaurants throughout the Atlanta area and kitchens are happy to have him. He made us a dinner of short ribs cooked in the sous vide method (cooking at a precise temp in a water bath in a vacuum sealed bag) and served the ribs with a jus he made from marrow bones (uh huh - much finer than me) over a bed of mashed cauliflower that was delicious and carrots flavored with orange zest and thyme.) These guys are awesome hosts and we loved spending time with them. Thank you Diane and Mike - please come visit us soon and experience our Puritan style New England cooking!    Read more

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    Day 9

    Lafayette, Louisiana

    December 4, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 10 °C

    We actually went from Atlanta to Pensacola Beach in the Florida Panhandle. I don't really have much to say about Pensacola Beach - this was one of the few private campgrounds we stayed at to date. That means it is more expensive (70.00 compared to the 20.00 to 25.00 we spend at State or National Parks), more crowded and just generally not as interesting. I much prefer state and national campgrounds which usually have something educational about them, interesting trails, park rangers, etc.

    This was all true of our one-night campsite in Lafayette Louisiana, where we landed Saturday, December 2nd. Lafayette is smack in the middle of Arcadiana. It was originally called Vermillionville but was renamed for General Lafayette. Our camp ground was in the middle of town, cost $20.00, and was lovely. There was a nature walk on board walks that we were able to do before it got dark, and then we went to a local restaurant called Cafe Vermilionville which is in a landmark building. We shared an appetizer plate that had, inter alia, alligator, louisiana sausage and crawfish beignets. That was awesome although I can't really tell you what alligator tastes like. Then I had a lovely wedge salad with blue cheese dressing and we shared a rib eye steak. I gotta say - I am losing my taste for rib eye steak - I'm pretty sure they do some pretty unhealthy things to the steer to get that flesh so marbled, and I've seen steers in too many cramped stock yards (Coalinga comes to mind) to feel good about eating them. We'll see.

    There were two things we wanted to do in Lafayette before heading off to Texas: one was visit a live oak tree that is supposed to be 500 years old. It's located in front of St. John's Cathedral in Lafayette and I have to tell you, I got goose bumps when I stood in front of it. The other was to visit a donut store in Lafayette called Meche's Donut King. We had never heard about it before but on our way to the Cathedral we went by it and there was a line! A very good sign. We were not disappointed. I made a video on the merits of those donuts which I will post as soon as I figure out how to do that.

    Hope everyone is well and happy! xoxoxo    Read more

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    Day 11

    Austin! 12/3 & 12/4

    December 6, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 3 °C

    We hit the road to Austin with full stomachs (see previous post about Meche's Donuts) and light hearts. I don't remember too much about the drive from Louisiana into Texas, but I do remember riding into Austin and thinking it looked interesting. And it was! We camped at McKinney Falls State Park and we stayed two nights, and were thinking we might stay a third. It looks like I didn't take picture of our campgrounds (record keeping is getting sloppy!) but it was nice, in the woods and as you will see from the pictures below - a great hiking path.

    Harry was bemoaning that we had travelled through North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, and Louisiana and hadn't eaten any barbecue so I suggested we spend out first night in Austin remedying that. We chose Cooper's on Congress Street in Downtown Austin. Oh wait, I'm forgetting the most important part of this evening. You know how we had the hitching fiasco in Charleston? Well we hadn't unhitched since then - this was going to be the first time. Actually, unhitching is no problem, getting it back on is, but we scrunched up our courage and unhitched and went to dinner.

    Cooper's was awesome! There's a mostly male waitstaff and they are all big characters but very polite and charismatic. I feel like the men in Austin are a kind of type - very polite, very gentlemanly, and kind of charming. Even though they are also sort of characters. We had a law student from Austin and I got to know him over three years and darn if he wasn't just like that. And on Monday when we were eating lunch in Austin a guy pulled his truck over suddenly right in front of us and jumped out. I thought he was crazy, but when I looked behind me I saw a woman had tripped on the curb and fallen and he had jumped out of his truck to help her!

    It also seems that there is money in Austin. When we drove into town that first night to get bbq we pulled into a public parking lot, this is late Sunday night mind you, and the machine wanted $15.00 for parking. Period. Didn't matter if you were staying an hour or 12 hours. I was standing in front of the machine ruminating about how I wasn't about to spend $15.00 when two young couples separately went up to the machine and just handed over their $15.00. I asked them if didn't they think that was expensive for public parking on a Sunday night but they kind of just looked at me like, isn't she cute? The shopping center where we went to Trader Joe's was full even though it was a weekday mid day - and the shopping center had high-end stores like William Sonoma.

    Our car needed its 6000 mile check-up so we got to drive around Austin and pretend we were Austinians doing normal every day tasks, go shopping at Trader Joe's, etc. While our car had its check up in North Austin we walked to a nearby non-touristy place for breakfast/lunch called Wild Chix & Waffles. It was in a big bland shopping center and we weren't holding out much hope for the food but we had to go there because it had an empty outside patio and we had J & S. Wrong on all counts! It had a wild interior that my artist friends would love - very original - and the food was so good! One of the pictures below is Harry eating his waffles and fried chicken. I ordered a salad (no really, I did!). Do you notice the border around Harry's plate? the owners had painted the same pattern on their floor - and there was great art on the walls - so interesting. Check out the menu on line and you get a sense of how original it was. So big surprise to open the door in a blah shopping center and walk into a fantasy.

    We were thinking we would around Austin that afternoon after doing our errands but it was too hot - going up to 85 degrees! - so we decided to take the afternoon off (from what, you ask?) and just hang out around our trailer - which we did - I used the time to get caught up on this blog. And we made dinner "at home" since we had just stocked up at TJs.

    We were uncertain what we were going to do on 12/4 and I'm really glad we were because Harry got up early to look at maps, etc., and realized that bad weather was coming in. The area we would be driving into was going to have below-freezing weather. That's another aspect of having the trailer that we have to be mindful about - we can't be in freezing weather because of the pipes, etc. We had to pack up and leaving kind of quickly because we had to drive west 8 hours to El Paso, the first place where the temps stayed above 32 at night. The good news is that we hitched up with relatively little trouble so we are hopeful we have turned a corner on that particular camper issue.

    We were in the car for about 9 hours and spent the night in a La Quinta that would accept 2 large dogs because we didn't want to have to set up camp. Harry did an amazing job - he's an awesome camper driver. I tried to drive for awhile and I could not do it - I cannot drive the camper when there is wind - the wobbling freaks me out. Our tasks have evolved as follows: Harry drives and I conduct the business of traveling. I figure out where we are going, I find our campsites, book, talk to people, make schedules. When we get to our campsite, Harry sets up (hooks up water hose, electric hose, unhitches, levels the car) and I get the dogs settled which typically means I have to walk them to get the jitters out of their legs, and then I do stuff in the inside of the camper including feeding the dogs, to get us settled in. Fortunately, our evening chores have stayed the same - Harry cooks and I clean up. Yeah!!!

    Wednesday morning, 12/6. El Paso. I took the dogs out at 6:30 am when it was still dark and discovered it had rained over night. No one was up and about yet as I walked the dogs around the La Quinta parking lot. We were right next door to a Krispy Kreme that had one lone car at the take out window, and one lone worker handing over a cup of coffee, with her cap blinking red and green with Christmas lights.    Read more

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    Day 13

    Tucson AZ 12/6 & 12/7

    December 8, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 13 °C

    The ride from El Paso to Tucson was blissfully uneventful. Before heading out we took Jack and Sam to a nearby dog park where they got to romp with some other dogs and get really really muddy with red clay dirt. After the early morning rain and gloom of El Paso, we didn't hit blue sky until we got to Arizona and its been blue skies ever since.

    Our stay is Tucson has been all about natural beauty and deep relaxation.. Our campsite is in Catalina State Park which abuts a state forest (about $25.00 a night with full hookup and a dumping station). It is lovely as you will see from the pics below and the walks we took start from our front door.

    First morning: we set out on a walk with Sam and Jack and did about 3 miles in the Sonoran desert. Beautiful day - wide sky, brilliant sun, light wind, both cool and hot depending where you were. Then we had lunch at a nearby Mexican restaurant. I had a marguerita and Harry had a mojito. With lunch. Middle of the day. We never do that but it seemed like the thing to do for a Thursday in Tucson. As you can imagine, the rest of the day was not very energetic but we did do three loads of laundry in the late afternoon because Jack threw up on our bed. He's better now.

    The night sky here is dramatic and beautiful - purple mountains and a turquoise blue at the horizon when the sun goes down that you can't believe exists.

    We are closing in on our third week of being away and something about this much time on the road is creating a mental sea change. I find I can actually sit at the campsite picnic table and just sit. and look. and not be thinking about the next thing I'm supposed to do.

    My next post will just be a continuation of some Tucson pictures - I can only post 10 pictures with each entry.    Read more

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